Hardware buildup for a Sliding Glass platen scanner.

Built a scanner? Started to build a scanner? Record your progress here. Doesn't need to be a whole scanner - triggers and other parts are fine. Commercial scanners are fine too.

Moderator: peterZ

Is this buildup interesting? ( should I keep investing time in it, you can change your vote)

Yes, this is interesting work.
20
95%
No, I have heard enough from you to last a lifetime.
0
No votes
Don't care.
0
No votes
Not interesting but I love to hear you talk...
1
5%
 
Total votes: 21

james415
Posts: 13
Joined: 04 Mar 2014, 00:52

Re: Hardware buildup for a Sliding Glass platen scanner.

Post by james415 »

Edvin,

Thanks for the input. I actually do have the cameras installed. They are mounted to the ears similarly to what you describe, with a few small differences. I apologize for the slow updates this week, but I have been very busy. I will try to get everything up in the next few days.

Thanks,
James
you1
Posts: 92
Joined: 04 Mar 2014, 00:53

Re: Hardware buildup for a Sliding Glass platen scanner.

Post by you1 »

We all know what it means to be busy.
Thank you for taking the time to for sharing your findings.

Best,
Edvin
jradi

Re: Hardware buildup for a Sliding Glass platen scanner.

Post by jradi »

The arms turned out to be an elegant solution and will work well, just keep in mind that if you have a book cradle that slides from side to side, the arms have to be far enough back that the book cradle wont bump into them.

Another benefit of the design is that there's very little material that will reflect back onto the platen, which means you don't have to worry about painting the arms black, etc. Hopefully I'll have my design finished by Sunday night and I can post some photos to give everyone an idea of what i'm talking about.
you1
Posts: 92
Joined: 04 Mar 2014, 00:53

Re: Hardware buildup for a Sliding Glass platen scanner.

Post by you1 »

Yes, the images will make it a little easier to visualize.
tnx
spamsickle
Posts: 596
Joined: 06 Jun 2009, 23:57

Re: Hardware buildup for a Sliding Glass platen scanner.

Post by spamsickle »

you1 wrote: Daniel mentioned that there is a reflection issue to worry about; however, as he mentioned in a different posting the camera setting and the light intensity drowns out the reflection; so I think it should be okay.
I honestly haven't found reflection to be a problem, but I've been shooting mostly white pages with black text. I still haven't gotten around to shooting any of my "art" books, but I can see how reflections might be a problem if you're photographing a dark image.

I'm still in the planning stages of my glass platen design, waiting on the refurbs I ordered from Canon, etc. I saw some good cameras for $150 that I'd planned to get, but a week and a half later when I finally got around to ordering, they were no longer available -- hopefully, one of you guys scooped them up. I ended up going with 2 S5s, because that's the only black-body camera they had left. Yes, I'm old-school, and will actually pay extra for black.

I wasn't thinking of it at the time, but I see by the specs that this camera apparently accepts filters, and I'm thinking that with a glass platen, if reflection becomes problematic, a polarizing filter might do the trick. I suppose at this stage of the design, I could also be looking into anti-reflective glass. I'll see what I can find out -- if anti-reflective glass costs about the same as regular window glass, I'll definitely try it. If it costs significantly more than regular glass plus a couple of polarizing filters, I'll probably go with the regular.
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daniel_reetz
Posts: 2812
Joined: 03 Jun 2009, 13:56
E-book readers owned: Used to have a PRS-500
Number of books owned: 600
Country: United States
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Re: Hardware buildup for a Sliding Glass platen scanner.

Post by daniel_reetz »

They do show up on some dark pages.

If anyone else is looking for cameras, I just saw A590's for 109.99 at RadioShack. Sorry for the relative silence/brevity on my part lately, I'm just trying to keep up with school and learn to use the laser. I cut my first acrylic with it last night.

Polarizing might work, but you'll likely need to polarize your light sources, too, and polarizing twice will mean at least 50% loss at the source and the capture. Rob seemed to get some damn nice results just by bringing the light levels really high (400W!!).
spamsickle
Posts: 596
Joined: 06 Jun 2009, 23:57

Re: Hardware buildup for a Sliding Glass platen scanner.

Post by spamsickle »

I just realized I have a polarizing filter for my DSLR, and did some experiments. It doesn't look like the polarizing filter will eliminate reflections from stray light sources (I used a window in the background, reflecting off of acrylic).

I had thought the angles of the halogen lights, the platen, and the cameras should insure that their reflections are not a problem. The direct reflection of each light should bounce back into the other light rather than into the camera, since they're vertical and the faces of the platen are 45 degrees. Direct light hitting one face will reflect into the other face, and then up into the other light.

It's only light sources behind and aligned with the camera that should (I think) pose a problem with reflections. That's one reason for preferring a black-body camera, as a silver-body will be more of a light source itself.

I just ordered a couple of $7 polarizing filters on eBay anyway, and I may still look into anti-reflective glass. If dark pages are still a problem, shooting at night with the only illumination coming from the halogens should help, and if even that is not sufficient, I guess I'll be playing with black dropcloths or shooting through holes in black posterboard.
jakegaisser
Posts: 63
Joined: 04 Mar 2014, 00:52

Re: Hardware buildup for a Sliding Glass platen scanner.

Post by jakegaisser »

Love the design, I will be following more or less the exact same design, but I am going to see If I can use some pulleys and weights to couterweight it.

do you happen to have any pictures with the cameras mounted? up and down positions. I am very curious to check out your latest work. :mrgreen:

also it looks like your glass forms a 45 degree angle, is that correct?
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